What They Say
The Asia Economy Reporter (Korean language) reports that the much rumoured deal between the Samsung Electronics VD business and LG Display for OLED panel supply is about to be announced. The report puts volume of the deal at between two and three million units, which would value the deal in the billions (the article has some numbers, but they don’t look reasonable to me!- Ed.)
However, the article also reports a Samsung official as saying:
“We are not discussing OLED supply with LG Display”.
What We Think
I can see the logic of this kind of deal as Samsung’s power to control the supply side has declined. It is still the biggest buyer of large LCDs, but its level of control over technology and quality as well as price is less now that it has no long term LCD supply of its own. Having an alternative to LCD would give it a bit more leverage. Of course, QD-OLED should be a good option, but there are continued reports of poor yields and even with good yields, volume will be relatively low and the pricing will be high. Further, it feels to me that microLED timescales have stretched out a bit so Samsung may need a premium emissive technology as a ‘placeholder’ technology. As I pointed out, in the SID Keynote, Samsung highlighted that its future was in emissive displays. However, as of today, only the microLED ‘The Wall’ exotically-priced sets are emissive. (Samsung Display Moves its Language in SID Keynote)
A major supply deal between LG & Samsung would be, as far as I know, a first for the firms. However, a few years ago it would have been hard to imagine the two firms being almost out of the LCD business, so as the saying goes ‘never say never’. (BR)
